‘Godzilla’ studio Toho suing Anne Hathaway’s ‘Colossal’ monster movie

May 21, 2015

Just last week, we heard some very interesting news that ‘Interstellar’ star Anne Hathaway was taking on her next sci-fi project, this time helmed by Spanish filmmaker Nacho Vigalondo. Titled ‘Colossal,’ the film was pitched by producers Voltage Pictures as ‘Godzilla’ meets ‘Lost in Translation,’ which everyone can admit is a pretty fascinating premise. But according to the Japanese studio Toho — which owns all the rights to the famous monstrous character — this marketing campaign, along with Voltage’s use of images from Gareth Edwards’ 2014 ‘Godzilla’ constitutes copyright infringement; and as such, the studio is seeking an injunction against Voltage and the ‘Colossal’ production.

While they’ve made a big move in signing Hathaway to lead the film, Voltage is still seeking financiers for the independent project at Cannes, and in doing so are using an often-employed method of borrowing stills from relevant projects in pitch meetings and emails. Toho, however, are none too pleased with the tactics of the small studio — who have around 100 films under their belt, including ‘The Hurt Locker’ — and are seeking to shut down the production before it begins. In the most recent film from the ‘Timecrimes’ helmer, Hathaway would play a young woman who loses her job and her boyfriend in San Francisco, only to travel to Japan when she hears that a ‘Godzilla’-like monster is terrorizing and destroying Tokyo.

Interestingly, Toho themselves had killed off the famous monster in a film back in 2004, only to jump back into the monster mayhem game following the success of Warner Bros.’ 2014 reboot. With a sequel with Gareth Edwards planned for June of 2018, Toho has also announced their own plans for reviving their famous monster. In the meantime, we hope that Hathaway, Vigalondo, and Voltage will be legally permitted to continue their promising-sounding work. Check back here for more.